Titus Andronicus & Surfer Blood in Bitterzoet

True fans of the blog will know that Bitterzoet isn’t exactly my favorite spot to watch live music in Amsterdam. It has however hosted two great shows so far: These New Puritans and Titus Andronicus. TA was on a double bill with Surfer Blood who played last, but the more lasting impression was made by the 5-some from New Jersey.

When I got my ticket it was just for Surfer Blood. Their song “Swim” is #1 over the first 4 months of the Explorer 23 and their album is good, although at times uneven. So was their show. Frontman John Paul Pitts has looked into Ezra Koenig’s book of stage presence and moves and the band is youthful and fresh as the album is. “Swim” & “Catholic Kids” are great songs and potential anthems but the overall quality of the songs just doesn’t cut it compared to opener Titus Andronicus, who’s excellent 2nd album I’ve discussed a few weeks ago. It was a very pleasant surprise that they were added to the bill. As if you’re buying some fries in a restaurant and getting a juicy steak with it for free.

Starting with “A More Perfect Union” the band took off and never looked back. Bitterzoet’s stage is too small for a band with this energy. You can’t even fit 4 guitars on stage, the bass player had to stand sideways to leave some room for the jumping around of the other members. A collage of guitar sounds, piano and at times violins let to beautiful noise, broken at times by awesome breaks. You never know when a song is ended before the next one starts. They leave you guessing. The high energy led to some jumping around in the room too where a few glasses did not live to see the end. Yes, another great use of the Bitterzoet glasses: a potential danger for enthusiastic dancers next to being a nuisance during quiet shows.

Playing songs from both albums the power was more in the energy than in the songs itself, for that the lyrics were not easy to understand and the theme of the second album, war, didn’t quite get through to most of the audience. Highlight of the night, and one of the highlights of the year, was when singer Patrick Stickles joined the dancers on the floor during “Titus Andronicus” shouting ‘Your Life is Over’.

Surfer Blood may have more mass-appeal and hit-potential but the band that made a much bigger impression was Titus Andronicus. Both bands will hopefully play bigger venues next time around.

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

War seems to be good subject for albums this year. These New Puritans already made a unique album with ‘Hidden’, a vibrant collection of interlocking songs about war and interspersed with the sound of a sword going in or out of a sheath. It was also a big step up from an already great debut album. Much of the same can be said about Titus Andronicus’ second album ‘The Monitor’, a collection of songs about the American Civil War woven together with bits of spoken word quotes. Both albums are two of the best of the year so far but that’s where the comparison ends.

If there is one word to describe TA’s stance towards war it’s confusion: how war makes everything black and white, us versus them, the devil versus the Lord. War brings forth the same confusion as alcohol, the second theme of the album. The listener is being pushed into another time and place before returning to a basement of a Garden State with the help of alcohol, as in a weird musical version of Slaughterhouse 5. This time traveler also travels between songs, appearing in the guest-star heavy ‘To Old Friends and New’ where he lectures us on the morality of war and religion. He’s chased around by the enemy who is everywhere on the album, like he is everywhere in war.

TA’s music has much less musical depth than TNP. Their style is almost shoddy punkrock that on this album has drifted more into the field of singer/songwriters. Think of Conor Oberst, the early years, with a rougher edge. Especially ‘Richard II’ and ‘A Pot in which to Piss’ could have easily been on a Bright Eyes record. The Conor Oberst sound at times sounds too obvious, but at least they copied someone worth copying. A big departure from their usual music is the almost nine minute song ‘Four Score and Seven’, a shouted ballad complete with bagpipes that if played a faster would be a good Pogues or Dropkick Murphys song.

From a band who’s named after a Shakespeare play you can really only expect smart songs and the Monitor is exactly that. It’s like an episode of Family Guy: if you know a lot of movies you will constantly see references. On ‘The Monitor’ TA refers to authors like Camus, Whitman, names Civil War sites and literally quotes songwriters like Billy Bragg and Bruce Springsteen. The Boss is quoted in the opener ‘A More Perfect Union’ in which they make no big deal about being from New Jersey as well. He’s also name checked in the closer ‘Battle of Hampton Roads’ which clocks in at 14 minutes. If there is one bad thing to say about the album it is that is about 14 minutes too long. But you have to listen to the album in it’s entirety to grasp the whole concept.

Titus Andronicus have catapulted themselves to the upper echelons of American indie rock with “The Monitor”. 2010 is a great year for music so far in my humble opinion. In May they will play in Amsterdam, a double bill with another new great band Surfer Blood (reviewed before). Could be a legendary show…